Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-18
TEMPERANCE MEETING.
Address aud Talk Before the w. CT. O..
bN Mrs. u. u. Mnlker.

~ II. WALKER.
Mrs. H. ID. Walker of Providence, X. L.,
general secretary of the w. G. Il. L. sof
that State, and one of the most prominent
and successful temperance workers in the
country, gave some very interesting al
dresses under the auspices of the w. G..
L. L. in Temperance hall, yesterday. In
the afternoon Mrs. Walker gave an in
formal talk on methods of temperance
work, and In the evening she spoke before
a general audience, on the subject Glow
we won the Day" The address was pre-
coded by devotional exercises with read
ing of Scripture and prayer by Rev. Mr.
McFarlan, pastor of the First Baptist
church.
The speaker in opening her remarks
said In speaking of intemperance speak
of sin in the concrete, for out of this evil
grows every other evil. Mrs. Walker then
spoke Of the work in which Mrs Barney,
president of the Rhode Island w. G.. +. T..
and herself had been engaged, in the re-
formatory and penal Institutions of vari-
Gus States They visited the penltentaries
States prisons, intirmaries, etc in Ken
lucky, Illinois, Rhode Island, New York
Massachusetts, Connecticut and other
States, and everywhere they found that
! fully % per cent Of all the crime and mis-
fortune aud suffering was the direct or in
direct result of intemperance. In meet
ing held at the state penitentiary at
Frankfort, Ky, the 500 prisoners all rose
to their feet in response to the Question
Are you here, directly or indirectly, on
account of the liquor traffic =" Every
where they found that the penal insttu-
tions were recruited directly from the
dram shop
Mrs. Walker then told in very graphic
manner the story of thu labOrS and trials
OF the w c. 7. [. of Rhode Island in Oh
tanning the prOhibtOry amendment to
| their State constitution. The first diff
| Guilty was the veneratlOn in which the old
constitution of Rhode Island is held by
the people of that State and their un-
Willingness to have it altered in any par.
ticuar But the ladies, inspired by the
Spirit of God, determined to 90 to work
| to get the question of a prohibitory
amendment submitted to the vote of the
people. The first year they circulated Il
petition through the state and got about
10000 names. The bill was presented in
the Legislature, referred to a committee
and never heart from agaln. The ladies
tried again and rolled up 1900 names
Again the bill was presented-this time
| by Il liquor man, whose town was so
strongly III favor of it that he did not dare
to oppose his constituency passed the
/ lower House and was reported favOrablv
in the Senate; but owing to negligence on
! the part of the official who sent out the
notifications to be inserted in the town
warrants, two towns failed to get their
notifications in time and the work was all
lost. Again the ladies bravely returned to
the charge This time they got nearly
| 10000 names and by means of their local
unions in each town they contrived to
| have the bull presented by every town rep
reSentatlVe tor his town. In this way they
captured the Legislature, and the bill
finally passed both houses. But it was IN
| tentionally delayed in the Senate, so that
the ladies had only three weeks and four
days tor their campaign. But they went
to work with wonderful zeal telegraphed
all over the country for prominent tenn
perance speakers, held 100 meetings every
night, issued paper called the OutlOOk,
scattered temperance literature every
where, placarded the horse cars, sent ban
ners through the streets and held daily
prayer meetings and children's mass meet
ings. About week before the voting day
the officer whose duty it was to provide
ballots suddenly discovered that though
he was obliged to print them, he was not
obliged to send them out. Bat the W. G.
T. L. were equal to the emergency, anC
had thousands of duplicate approved bal
lots struck off. When the day came
they took these ballots to the
polls and stood bravely at theil
post from sdnrlse to sunset. The result
was that they carried the State for pro
hibition. The triumph was cele brated by
a great jubilee meeting in Providence, and
the city rocked with cannon nearly al
night long. What we have done in Rhode
Island, concluded Mrs. Walker, you ought
to do in Vermont to enforce the excellent
law which you have. If the men won't
do it, you ought to do it. But exercise
every power you have to get the men tt
enforce this law. Prohibition does pro
hibit In Rhode Island, and if you pledg,
yourself for its enforcement, it will il
| Vermont.